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Sunday, August 13, 2017

I know right from the moment I put a CD on my old portable
CD player from the RareNoise label, I can expect some amazing “holy shit!”
moments that will take me to another scenario. And believe me, this is a label
that has been on my map since 2016 and thanks to Sid Smith’s Podcasts from the
Yellow Room that have opened my eyes more to the label. One of those bands is
Mumpbeak.

This is their second album released this year entitled Tooth. It is their follow up to their
sole self-titled debut album which was unleashed back in 2013. Roy Powell is
the brainchild behind Mumpbeak. He had studied piano and avant-garde
composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. He
released his debut album back 23 years ago with A Big Sky.

He moved to Norway and worked with Terje Gewelt and Jarle
Vespestad with the release of Holus which
was an album of free improvisational music back in 1999. Now I’m very new to
Powell’s music and along with Mumpbeak, but Tooth
is one of the most challenging albums I’ve embarked on from start to
finish. With Naked Truth bassist Lorenzo Feliciati and taking over Stick Men
and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto is Elephant9 and Shining drummer
Torstein Lofthus.

There is some sonic and eruptive compositions that will take
you on a journey towards the light. I was completely blown away by not just Roy’s
keyboards and not just because he’s a killer musician, but he’s very much like
a conductor and giving both Lorenzo and Torstein some ideas and where to come
in and where to come out. For example like going to Point A to Point B.

The first 4 minutes of Caboose
is arrangement between Roy and Lorenzo as it becomes this electronic
Vangelis-sque 1980s atmosphere. You can imagine yourself walking across the
wastelands and hearing some deafening alarms thanks to the Synths that Powell does.
It then, suddenly changes with some intense bass lines and Torstein’s drumming
along with Roy’s clavinet chords following each of the ghost-town hallways and
no sign of life to be found.

The reverb heavenly clavinet improvisation, brings to mind a
cross-over as if George Gershwin had teamed up with Gentle Giant’s Kerry
Minnear as if they did an album together during the In a Glass House sessions. Torstein for me, is like rapid machine
gun fire that is sweating bullets. It’s shown on Saw as he goes all around the kit including the tom-toms and snare.
Roy and Lorenzo follow suit as Powell goes into uncharted waters with a
fuzztone wah-wah tightrope.

His textures are in a way by reigning the essence of Mike
Ratledge as if he is in awe of his insane but mind-blowing work on the
keyboards. At times, when he plays the clavinet, it sounds like powder-keg
riffs before he and Torstein go into a climatic end as it abruptly comes to a
halt. Opener, Boot brings to mind a
film-noir-sque score that Mumpbeak does knowing that the killer is still on the
loose.

I love how Roy goes to the Moog Little Phatty improvisation
that he does and it shows that the clues the detectives found just got even
challenging, bigger, and difficult to know the killer left ginormous tracks for
them to follow. They go from one door to another closing it off with a tidal
wave ending crescendo.

Stone, which
closes the album, sees Roy heading towards the Hammond Organ. It begins with a
Koto-sque intro and bass lines before the wah-wah door comes open and the
intense groove between Lorenzo, Roy, and Torstein is like jet engines ready for
take-off all around the room. There at times stop-and-go moments as the Organ
is rising from the grave. I always imagine Lorenzo brings the goods and carry
the torch for both Jaco Pastorius and Geddy Lee into one giant blender.

It this little nod to CAN’s Vernal Equinox and then the finale comes right in as Mumpbeak delve
into the waters of Van Der Graaf Generator’s The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other-era for an alarming
crescendo climatic finale that brings everything into a gigantic circle.

I’ve been waiting for something like this to come out.
RareNoise Records have scored another home run for me with Tooth. I hope one day to discover more of Roy Powell’s music, but
this here’s a start with their second album. They are on my watch list to see
what they’ll come up with next. Little advice, play this mo-fo up to a notch!

Jane Weaver, married to DJ Andy Votel, founder of Finders
Keepers Records, visualizes the future sound of hypnotic cosmic-space-electro
rock. Now, mind you, I’m very new to Weaver’s music since hearing her 2014
album, The Silver Globe album. This
year she’s released her follow up to The
Amber Light with Modern Kosmology. Released
on the Fire records label, Jane takes you beyond the stratosphere with pop,
surrealism, shoegaze, post-rock, and the Krautrock sound.

It has these late ‘70s/early ‘80s vibration the moment I put
the CD on. And I knew right from the get-go, she was taking me to a whole new
infinite world. The six centerpieces throughout the journey from the outer
limits of space have taken me not just by surprise, but making my eyes open to
discover more of Jane’s music. Loops in
the Secret Society closes your eyes that takes you back to the golden-era
between the experimental scene in Germany and the Motorik rhythm sound which is evidential with the essence of NEU and Michael Karoli-sque guitars.

Then, everything sets into a mysterious driving beat as if
you were looking through the various doors to decide which one to open and see
where it will lead us to with the futuristic trip on The Architect while Jane dives into the river of the psych-folk
ballad on Valley. You can feel her
voice behind you as if she’s giving you goosebumps down your spine as if she is
hypnotizing you by walking through an abandoned forest.

The music itself brings to mind between Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother-era and the Beatlesque
textures from the rhythm guitar that fits well on the composition. Jane herself
honors the Krautrock sound. I could tell from listening to this from start to
finish, she’s done a lot of research and whether you like her music or not,
Weaver herself has been around from day one from her work with both Kill Laura,
Misty Dixon, and her solo career.

Is there a stop sign for her? Absolutely not. She is
definitely going to keep going and knowing what brainstorm she will come up
with next. The homework she did is incredible between the essences of CAN’s Ege Bamyasi and Agitation Free’s 2ndas the synths set the
location of the wasteland as if you as a listener walk through the rubble
between the Bass, Drums, Guitar and Echoing effects from the percussion on Did You See Butterflies?

CAN’s Malcolm Mooney does this mourning spoken introduction
that is almost poetic before the double-track reverb/effect vocalizations that
Jane does as it comes across an Avant-Pop electro vibe as if CAN sessions
between 1968 and 1970 on Ravenspoint as
it segues to the closing track I Wish. The
track continues with the Motorik sound from the drum machine as if to say the
listener that a new day, a new beginning will happen to move forward.

I always imagine Klaus Schulze helping Jane out on the
arrangements on here and giving some advice on where the piece needs to start
and where it would end. You can always imagine a scene inside your head where
the layers would go to next with the eerie synthesizers and explore what will
happen next into the following pages after that.

This has been my second to third time listening to Modern Kosmology and I have to say I was
very impressed from what I’ve listened from beginning to end. It’s mixtures
again as I’ve mentioned before; New Wave, Krautrock, and Shoegaze music, it’s
all there. And I hope to see and imagine what will Jane Weaver think of next. Modern Kosmology may not be everyone’s cup of coffee, but this may
be in my albums of this year.

Monday, August 7, 2017

In the 2005 documentary of Sam Dunn’s Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Tour manager Joey Severance said, “Metal is a brotherhood. That’s what keeps it
alive. It’s in your blood. It’s the air you breathe.” And he’s 100% right.
For me, Metal has been with me since I was a kid, teens, and through College.
One of the labels that have always peaked my interest since 2009 after reading
about them in PROG Magazine is Lee Dorrian’s label, Rise Above Records.

One of the new bands alongside discovering Blood Ceremony,
ASTRA, Diagonal, Beastmaker, and Galley Beggar is a new band from Sweden called
Saturn. They have released their second album this year entitled, Beyond Spectra which is a follow up to
their 2014 debut Ascending (Live in
Space). I’m new to Saturn’s music, but holy shit! These guys are very good.

The band considers Robin Tidebrink and Linkan Lindgren on
Electric Guitars, Ted Carlsen on Drums, and Oscar Pehrson on Lead Vocals and
Bass Guitar. The album cover which is done by Maldo Illustration to pay nod to
Marvel’s own Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby as if it’s done right to give Sci-Fi a
real kick in the gut. But let’s get to the music. Saturn honors the New Wave of
British Heavy Metal as if the album was recorded between the late ‘70s and
early ‘80s.

You can tell Saturn shows the inspirations between Judas
Priest, UFO, Iron Maiden, and Angel Witch. You can imagine both Sounds and
KERRANG in the early ‘80s had reviewed an album like this during the heyday of
the NWOBHM movement and the album got reviewed, they would have gotten some
word-of-mouth. Now in the year of our lord 2017, Saturn honors the legacy of
the movement with Space and Hard Rock at it’s finest.

The guitars from Tidebrink and Lindgren are lightning rods
to raise the thunder between the minds of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton; Dave
Murray and Adrian Smith; and UFO’s Michael Schenker and Paul Raymond. Oscar’s
voice has eye-lifting momentum and at times jaw-dropping for me. You can hear
the essence of Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson and King Diamond combined into a
gigantic solar system in a parallel universe.

Listening to Beyond
Spectra, you can close your eyes and imagine the ship is ready for ignition
to be lifted off in space as if the band is receiving to prepare to hurtle
through the cosmos with four centerpieces (reference to Ren & Stimpy’s Space Madness). The rumbling guitar
riffs is riding down the highway with some revving rhythm sections on Still Young. The shuffling moments and
duo guitar structures both rhythm and lead that makes it fucking good, is a nod
to both Maiden and Angel Witch.

Opener, Orbital
Command starts off with a classical spacey introduction for the first 39
seconds before setting the controls for the spaceship ready to make the jump to
light speed and fly off into the outer limits. The double guitars are again
eye-opening and in the 3 minute and 25 second mark, there is a melodic
midsection, shows that they have landed into another planet and discovering
that the aftermath of the battle is a gruesome mess and knowing they won’t come
back from this.

Helmet Man features
almost as if Saturn were doing a score for a Video Game as they continue to rev
down the highway. It could almost be a theme to Marvel’s own Ghost Rider’s Johnny Blaze. He knows
that the danger is near. And he has a plan ahead of everyone and doing whatever
he can to stop the badness that is happening around and do justice his way and
not the law.

It has this epic and militant sound thanks to Carlsen’s
drumming as the guitars become a feeling essence between Ritchie Blackmore and
Glenn Tipton while it becomes a warning with a terrorizing effect that are
lurking behind their prey on Nighttime
Badger. You can imagine the victim is tied up and knowing that their time
is up and the lyric; “If you have seen
the things that I’ve seen/You wouldn’t sleep at nighttime/If you had heard a
word that I’ve said/You would not laugh at all.”

It’s a chilling and disturbing lyric. This character in the
story, I can imagine is an outsider and never fitting in with the cool crowd in
School as he plans his revenge to those who’ve hurt, bullied, and tortured him
through the rough years in High School. Not only that situation, but there’s
also another moment of selling you soul for fame and glory and the heavy price
you pay for to the bitter end. I’ve adored this album from day one. It is worth listening
to if you admire Saturn’s influences.

They’re not ripping off the NWOBHM
movement, but they're honoring it and keeping the flames alive of the genre by making
sure it is alive and well. For me in my opinion, Beyond Spectra is right in your alley. And to close out with the
back cover disclaimer of David Bowie’s The
Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, “To Be Played at
Maximum Volume.”

With his 25-year career and 2 million albums sold, Corciolli is a unique artist in the instrumental music scene in Brazil. He’s opened doors
to see which landscape he would embark on between Tibetan, Middle Eastern,
Celtic, and Classical Music. He would take these genres with his arranging and
composition to find infinite universes for the listener to see what is behind
these various doors that are about to be open. His new album released this year
is called, Ilusia and it shows his
origins of the rock influences he grew up listening to.

Listening to llusia, ithas this crossover between Jean-Michel
Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Steve Vai, Vangelis, and Tangerine Dream. With eight
instrumental compositions, Corciolli brings layers and textures of the
arrangements by a little help with drummer Ramon Montagner and bassist Mauricio
Oliveira and the guitar sampled keyboards by Corciolli himself setting the
atmospheres that what is about to happen in the five centerpieces on the new
album.

You can close your eyes and imagine a Movie inside your
head. Distant Living Memories has
this sci-fi film noir featuring dystopian landscapes as you go towards the
ghost-town deserted city that what once was, is in dust all of it. You can
imagine the memories of the glorious city that was in which there was a time
that was so beautiful, turned horrible.

The Man Who
Disappeared in the Painting features an introduction between the synth and
classical guitar introduction and it has this nod between the New Wave/Atmospheric
mysterious arrangement between Acqua Fragile’s Mass Media-Stars, the Halo franchise,
and late ‘70s Genesis coming to mind with the Fugazi-era of Marillion as Secrets
of the Invisible is a haunting composition.

It feels like this early ‘80s film score as if both Mike
Oldfield and Tangerine Dream did the score to the 1985 film, The Emerald Forest as the action
sequences start on to attack before the piano and heavy guitar lines knows that
the danger ahead of the outskirts as if something terrible is about to happen
with some dramatic string sections.

The nod to both the movie, TV series, and the book with Light Spheres in a Stephen King Mist imagines
yourself as if you were trapped inside with an un-natural mist of these
monsters waiting for the prey to come with some intensive danger outside of the
heavy clouds along with alarming jazzy background from the piano and an eerie
ending of a nightmarish lullaby. The Hans Zimmer and Vangelis approach has an
epic approach for Midnight of the World at
the End of Time.

You can imagine the two of them writing the score for the continuation
of Blade Runner as if they wanted
make a conceptual piece of the mystery surrounding of the disappearance of Rick
Deckard as it has this futuristic setting for the end credits. I have to admit,
I’m not crazy about this album, but it is a very interesting release that
Corciolli has released and it may or may not appear on my top 30 albums of
2017, but he’s got something special with this.

Originally released in the spring of 1969, Colosseum’s debut
album entitled, Those Who Are About to Die Salute
You which was originally released on the Fontana label and reissued this
year by Esoteric Recordings, is an eruptive debut that came out of the same
year King Crimson released In The Court
of the Crimson King, Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica, The Who’s rock opera Tommy, and Miles Davis’ controversial classic, Bitches Brew.

Colosseum was different. They mixed Jazz, Blues, and Soul
into a giant blender and creating these textures that were both Progressive and
Hard Rock into one. Formed 49 years ago by drummer Jon Hiseman and saxophonist
Dick Heckstall-Smith in which they were a part of the Graham Bond Organization,
Hiseman replaced Baker as both of them appeared on John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
album, Bare Wires released in the
summer of that same year.

I’ve first heard Colosseum’s music when I bought the 3-CD
compilation which was released in 2005 entitled Time Machine: A Vertigo Retrospective after hearing their explosive
heavy riff powder-keg rocker, The Kettle.
And I was hooked. It was like unleashing the beast right from the get-go.
They brought along Dave Greenslade on Organ, Bassist Tony Reeves, and James
Litherland on Lead Vocals and Guitar.

Not to mention guest musician trumpeter Henry Lowther who
appears on the album. He appears on the opening track with a walking blues/jazz
shuffle down the highway entitled, Walking
in the Park. It’s one of Graham’s composition as you can imagine it being
blared inside the train for the band to have an amazing time. Litherland can
really sing his heart out and doing some killer guitar work.

Even though Henry appears on the album as a guest musician,
he nails those trumpet parts down for that intro section in the beginning. He
and Dick Heckstall-Smith work like a team blaring those moments bringing the
roofs down on both Trumpet and Sax. Mandarin
which is based on the Japanese soft scale, Tony’s arrangement on the Bass,
sends chills down on my spine.

His bass playing shines well as it resembles between Jimmy
Garrison and East of Eden’s Steve York with some fuzz and wah-wah moments
between going from one to the other while the blues standard Backwater Blues he plays some of the
amazing bass lines and comes into the forefront which shows his talent and
power. Not to mention Dick’s blaring sax and Greenslade channeling Graham Bond’s
organ work.

The Road She Walked
Before features some of this Ray Charles-sque arrangement by
Heckstall-Smith. The vocalization between Litherland’s vocals, Smith’s sax, and
Greenslade’s organ and piano, delves into this Brazilian samba jazz groove into
the sunset as the title-track is a nod to The Nice, James Brown, and George
Gershwin. Greenslade plays a mean organ in the 12-bar blues and featuring the militant
section for the Climatic battlefield in the Rome Amphitheatre.

Beware the Ides of
March is essence to Procol Harum’s A
Whiter Shade of Pale which is also inspired by Bach, Heckstall-Smith’s sax
blares into night sky channeling both Classical Music and Jazz along with Dave’s
Wah-Wah Organ which almost has this Canterbury psychedelic feel and a soulful
crunch to it. It then suddenly delves deep into the darker tunnels of the
ominous piano, galloping drums, intense bass work, organ and sax improve before
coming back to the warmth sun rising end.

The three bonus tracks which the band recorded at PYE
studios in November of 1968 containing a demo version of the title track, a
rockin’ composition of I Can’t Live
Without You with some killer wah-wah guitar work and bass sharing a duel
between each other and it feels like it was something straight out of the
sessions between The Beatles White Album and
Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland.

Their take of Quincy Jones’ In The Heat of the Night which was sung by Ray Charles, is a strong
take from the classic opening of the 1967 film. You can close your eyes being
on the train close to dawn heading to the station with Mister Tibbs to start
the next case following after the events of the first film and knowing that the
next case, will be intense situation that the danger comes around.

The name of the title comes from a Latin phrase which is
well known as Ave Caesar, Morituri te
Salutant. Which means Hail Emperor,
Those About to Die Salute You. Which the gladiators greeted Vitellius and it’s
a well-known quote. Esoteric Recordings have never disappointed me and when
they announced some of the reissues of the Colosseum catalog on their website from Cherry Red Records, I knew it was going to be on
my wish list.

It contains the original and new sleeve notes and interviews
with Jon Hiseman about the origins of the band’s formation. The album reached
number 15 in the UK charts and gave Colosseum word-of-mouth including a
performance promo which is in the booklet, they did on March 20th at
Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. Worth checking out? Absolutely!

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

This 2-CD/DVD set consists of Anthony Phillips release of Slow Dance. Originally released on the
Virgin label, this showed his orchestral side to him. And it is a very
interesting release that embarked on. Reissued this year by Esoteric
Recordings, it is time to give Slow Dance
another chance and give Anthony the recognition he deserves. He’s been
overlooked from the history of his time with Genesis as an original founder.

Anthony Phillips appeared in the first two Genesis albums
which were the 1969 debut of From Genesis
to Revelation which showed their psychedelic-pop, Bee Gees, and pastoral
baroque music. But it wasn’t until they released their second album and signed
to a new label with Charisma Records in 1970 with Trespass that showed their beginnings of their progressive rock
roots digging deep into of complex music with a story that had a beginning,
middle, and end.

Anthony left the band to pursue studying Classical Music.
While he lacked Theory-based music, he practiced eight hours. But let’s get
straight to Slow Dance. It started
back in June of 1988 when he worked on the album. He wrote the pieces for the
material very quickly. Just as Slow Dance
was almost done, Ant went to the States for a few days to be with his
family. And then the news came to him that Passport Records in which they
released his solo albums, ceased.

This wasn’t good news. Not only Anthony was without a record
company, but he had to pay a debt to management of repaying the money. Now he
had no idea whether or not he wanted to delay the album and look for other
work, but he decided to plow on. After Tarka
was completed with guitarist Harry Williamson, Engineer Simon Heyworth who
worked with him since The Geese and the
Ghost, helped him out on the Slow
Dance project.

He also used a real string section on his album during the
recording at CBS studios in February of 1989. And then, he signed to Richard
Branson’s Virgin label at the spring of 1990 as the album was released in
September of that year. It was a long process in the making to bring it to
life. As I’ve mentioned, Anthony Phillips’ music is different from his time
with Genesis.

It was very different from his previous albums on Sides, The Geese and the Ghost, Wise After
the Event, and 1984. It showed
Anthony’s orchestral side that showed elements between Mike Oldfield, Vangelis,
and Jean-Michel Jarre. It took me a few listens to delve deep into Slow Dance, but it grabbed me more and
more to understand why he was ahead of his time. It may not be everyone’s cup
of coffee, but it grows on you.

The first movement begins with ambient strings coming in
with a heavenly introduction. Ant’s classical guitar sets gentle tones along
with wind instruments. It feels that you have walked through the forest of lost
hope as the images come through your head of what’s happening. There are some
moments of early Genesis and bits of The Enid’s In The Region of Summer Stars.

Phillips takes you for a ride towards scenes for a fantasy
film that’s been done right. The synths delve deep, deep into the watery
tunnels with no chance of escaping. There is some alarming organ notes,
percussion, and clapping rhythm sections. Along with the vocalizations from the
keyboards and fanfare sections, Phillips brings the sombering
electric-classical guitar for this melancholic sound.

It’s almost at times from the first movement. set to a scene of
the continuation of Disney’s Fantasia. The
last three minutes of the pieces shows Anthony giving the listener a chance of
hope of knowing that a new day will happen and it will start over again to be back
of where you were.

The second movement starts to open doors to another parallel
infinite universe as if you can imagine something terrible has happened with
ascending and descending guitars and militant drums. But all of a sudden, it
rises up from the ashes of the electronic drum pads. There is this very
interesting Jazz section for a little bit as Anthony shows a teensy-weensy bit
of a Allan Holdsworth-sque vibe into the mix.

It changes at the 14 minute and 17 second mark as it becomes
a battlefield featuring the string section. It’s a bloody uphill battle. Epic
fanfare horns and knowing its going to be hard, difficult, and brutal and
thanks to the drum program it is again an epic moment in the second act. You
can imagine Ant is a conductor at heart to create this scenario of what’s
happening.

Now let’s be honest Anthony is not Leopold Stokowski, but he
is bringing the magic and ideas in his head come to life. You can imagine the
men who are making the sacrifices in the battle sequence, knowing whether or
not it is going to be their last goodbyes they say to their families. It then
changes into an aftermath of what has happened. The strings come forth near the
end of watery effects to give the second movement, a mourning farewell.

The second disc which is Slow
Dance Vignettes. It contains nine pieces during the making of the album.
And three of them stood out for me. The Guitar
Adagio from Slow Dance is a penultimate section from the first movement
that has the gentle tone. You can close your eyes and imagine a sun rising
through the west as Anthony channels Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi’s acoustic side
with both Laguna Sunrise and Fluff.

With Clarinet Sleigh
Ride, Ant delves into the waters between both Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk
in the background. It’s an unearthed track from the sessions that I’ve never
heard before and it’s very interesting to have some of these melodic rising
pieces as if Anthony Phillips was doing a score in the late ‘80s for a special
on PBS.

Then, there’s this newly mixed version of the string parts
with an emotional heart-tugging stir between the crossover of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite and Bach’s Air on the G String with Lenta Chorum. There’s also a DVD
containing a 5.1 mix of the album by also. When Slow Dance was released in that year in the UK on September 24th,
it was the last album to be released on Vinyl, Cassette, and CD. It’s been
considered a fan favorite along with Ant himself.

I hope one day Anthony Phillips goes back and revisits this
album and moving from the electronic parts he used on the album and bring a
real orchestra to give Slow Dance a
chance to be reborn. The package is amazing. It contains the 2-CDs and the DVD,
followed by a replica poster, a 16-page booklet containing promos of the album
in Japan, original master tape, liner notes by Jonathan Dann interviewing
Phillips about the origins, making, and release of the album, and a note
written on manuscript paper that says “NO
WAY OUT. PIECE V”.

If you love the music of Anthony Phillips, then Slow Dance is really worth exploring and
highly recommended to show again Anthony’s orchestral, new age, and symphonic
side to him.

Friday, July 14, 2017

Rachel Flowers is for me one of the most brilliant composers
and multi-instrumentalist I’ve discovered. I first became aware of Rachel after
discovering one of her interpretations on YouTube of Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s
Tarkus, The Endless Enigma, and Trilogy. And I was blown away by her.
This was mind-blowing of her to take on a huge challenge of playing their
material and not to mention playing Keith Emerson’s modular moog which I can
imagine it was an honor of her to play it by getting permission.

For her, it is a blessing. She’s performed with Dweezil
Zappa with Zappa Plays Zappa in April of 2015 in honor of the 40th anniversary
of Frank Zappa’s album, One Size Fits
All. There are clips of her performing on keyboards with Inca Roads, Evelyn, A Modified Dog, and
on guitar with Montana. She played
when she was 10 years old, for the late great Ray Charles, and meeting people
including Stevie Wonder, Greg Lake, and of course, Keith Emerson.

Rachel lost her eyesight when she was very young, but she
never gave up. She has an amazing ear, and a perfect pitch. That and her debut
album entitled, Listen, Rachel has
created her own sound, beauty, and textures. The genres of classical, jazz, and
progressive rock is all here on Listen. It
is at times an emotional journey that Flowers herself will take you on.

Greg’s Favorite which
is a tribute to the late great Greg Lake, has this 3/4 time signature of a
ballad and waltz. It has some symphonic touches. Her vocalizations at times
brings to mind of the Canterbury scene with The Northettes who appeared on Egg’s
The Civil Surface and Hatfield and
the North’s sole self-titled debut album. She plays beautifully on the piano and
rising sounds from both the strings and drums.

The spirit of Keith Emerson is flowing in her and is letting
Rachel know that he will always be with her wherever the yellow brick road will
take her into. You can imagine Flowers is doing her own style of doing a score
to the follow up of The Peanuts Movie showing
some essence of Vince Guaraldi.

Goes To Eleven is
almost a nod to the 1984 cult classic, This
Is Spinal Tap’sMarshal Amps going up to 11 spoken by Nigel Tufnel. This is
a cross between Jazz, Fusion, and Prog-Rock. With melodic elements between
guitars, horn sections, and string section, Rachel playing guitar is
jaw-dropping. She is a virtuosic master carrying the styles between Frank
Zappa, Allan Holdsworth, and Steve Vai rolled into one.

The two-part suite Aloha
is an orchestral jazz atmosphere. The first part has this classical touch
and you can imagine the sun coming over the horizon for a brand new day. With
glowing moments from the symphony between the fanfare and its epic touch. You
can imagine Rachel bringing Disney’s Fantasia
back from the dead and making sure they were continuing a follow up to Fantasia 2000.

It then moves onto the second part in the Jazz world with a
Bass playing a simple line. It is this cross between Miles Davis and John
Coltrane if he hadn’t passed away as if the two of them were working together
and creating something that was beyond their Bebop Jazz roots and delivering
the spirituality journey to continue. Rachel is taking the listener to the
spiritual adventure that is special and finding their inner selves.

She is very much like a painter drawing a simple line and
never knowing she will stop. And the bass improvisations that reminisce between
Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius followed by a flute improvisation she does.
And then there’s, Run For Miles. Rachel
shows her nod to the late great Miles Davis. You can hear the howling of the
trumpet calling for a sign.

You can hear some Holdsworth-sque improvisation on the
keyboards. Not only it is a nod to Miles, but she pays a nod to Kind of Blue as if Rachel was using the
SynthAxe to carry the torch for Allan Holdsworth and keeping his legacy alive.
I had an amazing time listening to Rachel Flowers’ Listen. This is a very good release that unleashed last year.

She will be performing near the end of July in Birmingham,
England entitled, Keith Emerson – A Musical
Celebration of his Life and in October 13th to the 15th
of this year for the three-day ProgStock festival in New Jersey with Echolyn,
Glass Hammer, Karmakanic, EchoTest (featuring Julie Slick), The Tea Club, and Rani Chatoorgoon to name
a few. She is going to be very busy this year. So please check out her debut album, Listen.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

In 1974, after the release of their mind-blowing concept
album, Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh, Magma
went back into the studio and released their fourth studio album entitled, Wurdah Itah. Originally released on the
Egg label, and reissued this year on the Seventh Records label, it was
initially released as a Christian Vander album in the late ‘70s as the film
score to Yvan Lagrange’s Tristan &
Iseult, but it’s considered as a Magma album.

It was recorded in one month just as the band were getting
ready to work on their fifth album entitled, Kohntarkosz. And it is also their second movement of the Theusz Hamtaahk. When translated in
Kobaian, Wurdah Itah means “Dead Earth.” It has this dystopian
atmosphere of Earth now turned into a nightmarish planet that has gone straight
to hell and no chance of finding peace. Now since I’ve mentioned this as a film
score of Yvan’s take of the tragic tale between Tristan and Iseult.

I’ve seen some clips of the film on YouTube. It is bizarre
and surreal take. Imagine Ken Russell teaming up with Alejandro Jodorowsky and
creating this tale and blaring the sounds of the story up to 100. Believe me,
when you watch the clips, it is not the best adaptation of the story, but the
music which features some of the core members of the band, it’s gothic,
surreal, avant-garde, classical, operatic, and jazz like no other.

Christian Vander, Stella Vander, Jannick Top, and Klaus
Blasquiz are at their best. While they are singing in the Kobaian language,
they have given the intensity and the power to perform at maximum volume. While
Christian not only plays drums and sings, he plays piano brilliantly. Following
in the steps of Coltrane’s pianist McCoy Tyner, Christian plays some menacing
chords.

At times he goes from mid-tempo speed to relaxing moments
throughout the sections of the second movement. You can hear the aspects of the
third movement which would be Mekanik
Destruktiw Kommandoh and parts of their Kobaia
album thrown in there. You can imagine feeling the tense moments of
listening to Wurdah Itah as if you,
the listener, are on a tightrope and you can never tell if the rope is about to
be cut or not.

Christian himself is very much a composer and conductor and
giving cues for Klaus, Stella, and Jannick knowing when they are coming in for
the right moment. The bonus track in which is a 25-minute rough version of the
suite. It is an early development of the movement. It’s rough, raw, sinister,
weird, and brilliant. This is also the original demo that was used in the Yves’
bizarre film.

Wurdah Itah is not
for the faint of heart. Again when you listen to Magma’s music whether you love
it or hate it, it is challenging music. For me, admiring the Magma machine,
their fourth album reissued this year and hearing the raw demo, it’s
spellbinding. And I had goose bumps all over my arms hearing the 25-minute
piece. Again, I recommend checking out Wurdah
Itah.

Friday, July 7, 2017

To everyone, I deeply apologize for being in shutdown mode due to family emergencies. My family is more important right now. I will be back, I just don't know when. It will be either late July or in August of when I will come back. But it's been rough for me since of what's been going on. Again, I.Will.Be.Back. It will probably be in August when I'll come back to review. Again, I'm deeply sorry for the long delays.I will be back on the review train, when I'm ready. I just have to find when the time's right. But, as I've mentioned, Family comes first. Anyway, here's my top 20 albums so far of 2017. I know it's early before December's top 30 albums of 2017, but here's my picks of the top 20 albums so far of 2017.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

It’s been a good while since I’ve done a review from the
Cuneiform label. And it’s about time to do a review for one of the most
interesting bands that have peaked my ears more and more since discovering them
in the 2010 documentary, Romantic
Warriors: A Progressive Music Saga. That band is Chicago’s own
Cheer-Accident. Since their formation back in 1981 and despite line-up changes,
they blew me away right from the moment I watched the documentary and I was
hooked right from the get-go.

I have one of their albums which is 2009’s Fear Draws Misfortune. And then they
took a six-year hiatus after the release of 2011’s No Ifs, Ands or Dogs. This year, it’s almost to let the listener
that they are still here and they have the batteries all charged up and ready
to go with the release of their new album entitled, Putting Off Death. The album title suggests that while death is
approaching it’s a game of chess with the Grim Reaper.

But for me, it’s almost along with the album cover done by
Jeff Libersher’s art deco 1940s look, the idea of Chess feels very much essence
of Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 classic, The
Seventh Seal. The opening track, Language
Is begins with this lovely melodic piano ballad and Thymme Jones’ vocal
arrangements. The first 3 minutes and 40 seconds have these lyrical aspects
between Robert Wyatt and unsung singer-songwriter John Howard (Kid in a Big World-era) that brings to
mind of his classic, Goodbye Suzie.

It suddenly transforms into an aggressive yet alarming
movement with a mid-fast ramming speed segment before it changes near the end
into a heavenly atmospheric Blade Runner-sque
scenario of Brian Eno’s Here Come the
Warm Jets-era. The Avant-Pop catchy melody featuring the piano and keyboards
with some nice percussion sounds as Carmen Armillas’ soothing vocals describe of
the scenario and where the lyrics gave the album’s title from on Immanence.

But then Thymme himself brings his essence of the
psychedelic-era of The Beatles with some trippy effects between the vibes of Tomorrow Never Knows and Frank Zappa’s The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet. Not
to mention the trippy effects on the vocalizations and menacing acoustic guitar
sounds with Wishful Breathing while
everything goes into an apocalyptic hellish introduction to Falling World.

Guitars go through a mysterious opening door to the essence
of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch. There’s
this crossover essence between David Bowie’s Hallo Spaceboy and Radiohead’s The
Bends sessions featuring some mid-operatic vocal arrangements. But then,
Jazz Trumpets goes head towards the howling mix improvisation and then ending
with an electronica doom finale guitar chords.

Lifetime Guarantee is
probably going to be one of Cheer-Accident’s favorites. And it is for me one of
my favorites that is on Putting Off
Death. It has the ingredients of Prog-Pop, standalone rock anthem, Frank
Zappa arrangements of odd-time changes near the closing sequences, memorable
grooves with some fanfare trumpet movements, the vocalizations rise for life
lasting voyage, and little bits and pieces of the AOR sound (Album Orientated
Rock).

Hymn closes the
album. The echoing reverb effects of the piano brings to mind a piece of music
delving into the pool of a genre into the dreamy pop city. Jones sends you into
the sky that there one day might be hope for a new day along with an eerie
nightmarish string section for a brief few seconds. It is a gripping way to
close the album and fade off into the sunset.

Putting Off Death in which
Thymme Jones suggested that it might ask the listener that it will ask you some
questions that can be answered through the mind of a receiver. Now for me, I
always like a mystery. It is of course, a mysterious album that might give you
some clues to the piece of Cheer-Accident’s piece of the puzzle as if they are following in David Lynch's footsteps. I have
embarked more rides with album than ever before, and Putting Off Death is one of them.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

For me, they are still one of the most mind-blowing and eruptive
bands to come out of Boston with a volcanic roar that the lava itself flows
rapidly quick of showing no sign of stopping to raise hell. That band is Bent Knee.
With three albums in the can, they still keep going for more. And with them being on the
road with bands such as Thank You Scientist and with The Dillinger Escape Plan
for their farewell tour, they have come a long, long, long way. And the six-piece show that they can take their music
higher with their fourth album, Land
Animal.

They are on a new label with InsideOut Music. To me, that’s
very interesting to be on a label with bands such as Knifeworld, Haken,
Karmakanic, Beardfish, and Ayreon. I wouldn’t say it’s like winning the Super
Bowl, but it’s a big leap forward from moving from one label to another. But
let’s get straight into Land Animal. I’m
going to say this right now, but this is one of the most powerful and scariest
album I’ve ever listened to. It shows that Bent Knee will keep on going for
more of the long and winding roads ahead.

Terror Bird kicks
the door open with Gavin’s intensive drumbeats along with Ben’s guitar making
it sound like a clock ticking followed by an eerie quick second of the synths
going into a lullaby. And then Ben hits you in the gut as he channels the vibes
of Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. He then takes you into the heavens with some of
his psychedelic moments on Hole.

It is an electronic alternative arrangement with some
pumping sounds as Courtney Swain’s vocals go on high alert for a brief second
as the lyrics deal of finding the strength to keep going while the stand-out
track Holy Ghost gives Baum makes the
violin pluck as if the pin has already dropped. This is a very killer
composition because Courtney takes you beyond of the reflections of the mirror
as if Beauty is showing their dark side by taking the mask off.

The lyrics are raw, tight and front of your face by giving
you the facts; “Oh nothing charges me
like the night/It is like good god/I was born to write hey, wait/What about my
body though?/I got to find a way to get more glitter/more sass/more time/wine
and dining/kissing ass.” You can’t write amazing lyrics like that. You just
can’t. But now you can. And again, it hits you right in the face as if they are
giving you a gigantic reality check.

The mid-section becomes a cat-and-mouse sequence between Ben
Levin, Jessica Kion’s Bass, Vince’s ‘80s video games synth, and Gavin setting
up the mysterious case of the grizzly crime scene on the drums. Courtney isn’t
trying to be center of attention, but she wants to make sure the band are a
team and keeping the machine alive. She pours her heart and soul in her vocals
as if the character is ready to break out of this madness.

Bent Knee take a break on the first three minutes and
fifty-seven seconds on Insides In. This
shows their softer side with a mellowing jazz ballad as it has these Tori Amos
lyrical structures. The classical string section has this ‘50s romantic sound
before the last couple of minutes become a booming nightmare as synths become
harp sounds, Ben’s guitar chords are explosive, and it sets up the tone that is
happening with an unexpected twist by ending with a chilling drone.

Jessica Kion comes on center stage as her Bass line on Those Hands, sets up the scenario of the character’s
life becoming more worried, depressed, being in danger, and all alone. And
while they aren’t around to help you, you have to deal with the facts of
growing up and facing family life. It is walking towards the deeper tunnels
between classical music and alternative post-rock.

The title-track begins with some string sections straight
out of the 1960s TV series, The Fugitive that
blares out of nowhere as if it was done by the great Bernard Herrmann. It’s
almost at times that the lyrics are dealt through the mind of a little mouse
sneaking through the house for some crumbs in those sections through Courtney’s
vocals. You can absolutely feel the vocals, stirring sections, and the band
going on a dangerous tight rope.

Time Deer feels as
if it is the third installment of the continuation of the tracks between Way Too Long and Leak Water. It has this Roy Orbison-sque punch of early to mid-‘60s
vibe featuring some action-packed/dramatic sequence in the last minute and
thirty-two seconds featuring Gavin’s galloping drums. Stomping intro, has this ‘60s
girl’s group essence in the sound of going into parallel universes.

And then Courtney almost goes into the vocal arrangements
through the Dalek-sque arrangement as the finale Boxes features dooming bass synths and drums as if its straight out
of Alex Proyas 1998 film, Dark City featuring
a haunting abrupt end as there’s dead silence for the last seven minutes to
close the album. The two bonus tracks contain the title track going through a
surreal ‘50s house of a dystopian effect going into a haywire effect as if it
is all over the place done by the remix of Ben Levin.

The Sylvia Massy mix of Way
Too Long which sounds like it was recorded on a tape recorder, is a
different take. It’s menacing, punchy, and volcanic than what was on the
original version on Shiny Eyed Babies. It
may divide a line in the sand whether they will admire Bent Knee’s new album or
not, but it grows on you. However, Land
Animal is definitely on my soon to be top 25 albums of the year so far.

There’s going to be some gigantic competition on which
albums will be on there. This one is definitely going to be on there. Bent Knee
never disappoints me. Again, Land Animal is
one of the scariest and eruptive albums I’ve listened to. And you need to check
it out. Worth recommending.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Whenever something special my ears would come around for a
piece of music that might peak my interest, I know it would hit me at the right
moment. One of those moments is a band called Pixie Ninja. Now mind you, it
sounds like an Anime series or a Video Game, but the title of the band’s name
as I’ve mentioned a second ago, peak my interest. They’ve released their debut
release this year on the Apollon Records label entitled, Ultrasound.

The band came around with two individuals who have a love of
the Scandinavian Progressive scene. Now, again, I admire the Scandinavian
scene, and this band is going to be up on my list that is up there with
Anglagard, White Willow, Motorpsycho, and Beardfish to name a few. Jostein
Haugen and Marius Leiranes started to work on the album back in 2015 and then
recorded the album a year later.

And bringing Mattias Olsson to the score by mixing the album
and producing it along with the overdubs and drumming, that’s a combination.
And throw in people like Johan Hals Jorgensen and guest musician Ketil Vestrum
Einarsen (White Willow, Wobbler, and Motorpsycho) to the mix, you’ve got
yourself a weekend. But let’s go ahead and get straight to the album.

The album itself has this dark futuristic setting. It always
has this reminisce at times as if Pixie Ninja were doing the score for the 2017
video game, Prey. Now for me as a Geek, I would love to
see them one day do something like that in the near future. The album with six compositions that both Haugen and Leiranes wrote and arranged, takes you into the darker areas that you've never seen before. It’s almost at times that you can feel as if a pin
dropped and knowing that trouble is brewing.

And getting out is the hard part. There are elements between
Goblin, Anima Morte and the Sorcerer-era
of Tangerine Dream thrown into the mix. Whenever an album I mentioned before as
if the movie inside your head, well think of this like an extended director’s
cut of a sci-fi dystopian movie. It blends well of the past, present, and
future. It’s creepy, deep, and vast, but it is an interesting release this
year.

I have listened to Ultrasound
five times now. It’s not an easy album to listen to, but I will hope they
continue to do more in the years and years and years to come. Ultrasound is one of the scariest and
compelling releases I’ve listened to.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Howard Roark, a character from Ayn Rand’s 1943 novel, The Fountainhead says to Peter Keating
on the way he lives his life is, “To sell
your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That’s what everybody does every
hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul, would you understand why
that’s much harder?” What Roark is saying to Keating is, that while the
second-hander fails on the authority, it loses their hope of sensibility.

But it nurtures your own body and soul by freeing the
control from the outside by demanding ideas and accomplishments. We are living
in a society where something might go horribly wrong and lived in a world one
day will be in a dystopian underground. That and Gentle Knife’s second release
which is a follow up to their sole self-titled debut release entitled, Clock Unwound released on the Bajkal
label shows that the Norway ensemble is back.

The themes deal with the situation I mentioned, was once a
paradise that everyone can live in and bring their dreams to life, but it goes
awry and the price it comes with it. But there’s hope of a glimpse of beauty
underneath the ruins. Gentle Knife themselves have never done me wrong and
their second album is a dark, beautiful, and haunting release I’ve listened to.

Opener, Prelude:
Incipit starts off with a jazz piano chord in an ominous tone, followed by
echoing reverb effects of the Trumpet done in a mournful sound a-la Miles Davis
style. And it shows us, the listener, the wasteland that is like something
straight out of either Blade Runner or
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. And
then, it segues into the title track.

With its hard riffs essence to both Procol Harum’s In Held ‘Twas in I and Rush’s Permanent Waves, the synths represent
what is about to describe in the story structure as the composition feels almost
like a mini-opera as if Arjen “Ayreon” Lucassen conducted and wrote the piece
and got it done right. Increasing levels before the vocalizations and metal
riffs pour in.

The flutes come pouring in with some Crimson-sque guitar lines
as if you are walking through the rubble, hearing some pleas of help, but you
can’t hear them and imagine hearing a pin drop in the area followed by a sax
improvisation. With Fade Away, it’s
almost as if it’s the mellowing pieces turned into volcanic rhythms. The first
2 minutes and 13 seconds start off honoring essences of King Crimson’s THRAK-era.

You can hear mellow guitar structures, mellotrons, flutes,
and trumpets rolled together in a gigantic blender. And featuring the roaring
horns erupt and wah-wah grooves and flute improvisations and then it heads back
in the last 2 minutes of the mellowing arrangements. Plans Askew starts off in the first minute and seven seconds of a
Hackett-sque classical guitar intro as the singing kicks in as if they are in
an abandoned stage singing folk-like lyrics.

It then boosts up the instruments by coming in knowing
hopefully that tomorrow will be a new day. The guitars go through a double-edge
sword sharing the same melody with the same lines. It’s almost as if crying to
the gods through the rubble with no one to hear as the characters know that
death has come upon them.

The closing track, Resignation
starts off with some video game haunting chords as if’s through the 16-bit
Sega Genesis. And then, eerie Jazz flutes and atmospheric waves come in with
the spoken dialogue done by a poet through the minds of between Allen Ginsberg,
Jim Morrison and George Orwell. There’s some heavier tones by in a mid-speed
journey to the unknown with a church organ behind you.

The characters I can imagine in the finale are letting the
listener know, not to follow and not come looking for them. Because they aren’t
going to like what they find. I really enjoyed listening to Clock Unwound. This is my fifth time
listening to Gentle Knife’s second album. And the mastering done by Stick Men’s
Markus Reuter and Benjamin Schafer from Unsung Productions, for me it’s a
perfect combination for them to work on this album.

I hope Gentle Knife continues to do more for years and years
to come. They are one of my favorite ensembles to come out of the genre. And I
hope they won’t stop. The journey has just begun for them with Clock Unwound.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

It’s been three years since Schnauser released a new album
after 2014’s Protein for Everyone. I
loved what they have done on their fifth album since it was my introduction to
their music. It was wacky, off-the-wall, prog, pop, avant-rock, and in your
face. This year they have released their sixth album on a new label with Bad
Elephant Music entitled, Irritant. And
it proves that have shown no sign of stopping and never giving up on their
sense of humor.

For me, it is a “Holy Shit!” release I’ve listened to from
start to finish. I can hear the cross-overs between the Cardiacs, Knifeworld,
Supersister, XTC, and Gentle Giant rolled up into a big giant smoothie. Alan
Strawbridge, who founded the band 12 years ago, still follows in the footsteps
of Robert Wyatt, Andy Partridge, Vivan Stanshall, Tim Smith, and the late great maestro of Gong,
Daevid Allen.

Listening to this album, is like walking on Schnauser’s
tightrope and you have to be very, very, very
careful by not looking down. Because you never know if they are going to
cut the rope or not. And the tightrope itself has five centerpieces on here
that just made me embark on their roller-coaster ride.

The opener, Spiele Mit
Katzen is a speed demon introduction between organ, drums, and sax with an
intense punky roar and lushful midsections. I can hear the Cardiacs influences
everywhere. It’s then followed by and electro-space trippy adventure a-la
Chrome Hoof style. Re-Morgating the Nest
of Hairs is essence to the Rugrats theme
with some nostalgia of growing up to old-school ‘90s Nickelodeon cartoons as it
delves into a psych-punk space rock approach.

There are some mysterious movements as if Ren and Stimpy are
continuing more of their journey inside the Black Hole before going back into
the morning animated TV-sque intro. The
Monday Club deals with the 2015-2016 election and run-up to the Brexit
referendum. The song deals for a plea to end the scaremongering and spewing of
the media.

Schnauser pushes the envelope and they are spot on what was
happening. And I can imagine it’s still going strong. The last 2-minutes sees
them going for an approach in the essence of Henry Cow’s Nirvana for Mice. Now this is a title that just took me by surprise
and would have given Jamie Oliver a chance to shit his pants on.

Chinese Brainworm
(Taeria Solium). Now when I first heard this title, I was thinking to
myself, “Schnauser really never gives up on a sense of humor.” And believe me
it is a wicked sense of humor. I like how they take the approach of William D.
Drake’s The Rising of the Lights-era with
a moody waltz in the time signature of 3/4. But I get the feeling that
Schnauser could have written this as a score for a short featuring Ren and
Stimpy.

Fail Better starts
with the pouring rain as Dino Christodoulou’s free-jazz Sax improvisation
before Duncan’s keyboards go into an eerie wah-wah psychedelia approach. Alan
shows his nod to the master of Robert Wyatt with his inspirational lyrics along
with some lifting guitar and sax work.

This is my fourth time listening to Irritant. And it is one of the wackiest,
out of this world, and insane albums I’ve listened to this year and prepare more with Schnauser to hurtle through more of the cosmos with them.

49 years ago, something surreal was unearthing through the
psychedelic movement, but mixed in political views and electronic music with an
avant-garde twist. That band was The United States of America. Formed in 1967
by Joseph Byrd, a Stanford University graduate, and was one of John Cage’s
student, and a part of the surreal Dadaism movement, Fluxus. What Byrd wanted
to do was to capture the styles and mix of music and electro music that was
bold and musical.

Originally released on the CBS label in the UK and on
Columbia in the States on March 6, 1968, this was completely off the wall, in
your face, dystopian lyrics, musique-concrete, Dixieland jazz, and
avant-electronic rock at its peak. It was ahead of its when it came out. It was
very diverse than what bands like The Byrds, The Doors, and Cream were doing. It
was more of the essence between Silver Apples, Delia Derbyshire, Electric
Prunes, and The Velvet Underground.

The opener, The
American Metaphysical Circus, starts off with a calliope fanfare, ragtime
piano, horn sections, and militant drums going through this insane nightmare
before Dorothy Moskowitz’s vocals come in through someone’s brain about dealing
the dark side of what America has become. And the lyrics, is the nightmare we
are living in the past, present, and today in the 21st century
through an experimental nightmare as Dorothy’s voice becomes a dalek-sque
scenario.

Hard Coming Love sees
the band delving into a proto-punk garage rock attitude with Forbes punching
bass, Marron’s violin screeching like a fuzztone guitar before the
Derbyshire-sque White Noise vibe in a psychedelia shrieking rocker. The Garden of Earthly Delights I would
consider early beginnings of Space Rock about the dangers of what is not you
expected to go into this area of the dangerous fruits and hallucinated voyages
of what is in this person’s eyes that holds a mystery to them.

Where Is Yesterday is
a mournful ominous composition with monk-chanting Latin concept to the Lamb of
God, it describes what was once a peaceful land, turned into a hellish world
and the question of the song is simple of what happened to the place that was
once heavenly sent turned into a wasteland. Love
Song for the Dead Che which is about the controversial figure of the Cuban
Revolution, Che Guevara.

This was a risky composition dedicated to the leader. It has
a romantic, uplifting, and warmth vibration as Dorothy’s vocals through the
reverb and the violin and string section as well as mournful organ and
percussion while the 6-minute finale mixed with psych folk rock and
musique-concrete of the three-part suite of The
American Way of Love is in political satire.

Metaphor for an Older
Man is a resemblance to Donovan’s Season
of the Witch mixed in with an out-of-the-blue calliope and shrieking violin
work that you can imagine the band East of Eden taking inspiration. It then
moves into an electronic drone and alarming synths a-la Edgard Varese style
before delving into a wah-wah humoristic twist of the West Coast sound of California Good-Time Music and delving
in Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out-era of haywire effects of everything coming in a cycle on
Love Is All.

There are ten bonus tracks which was originally issued on
the Sundazed reissue and on the Esoteric Recordings label three years ago that
the band recorded between September and December of 1967 and during the summer
of 1968. You have more of the garage avant-rock for No Love to Give along with the first version for a Psych-Pierre Henry-Ragtime
effect on I Won’t Leave my Wooden Wife for
You, Sugar featuring Dorothy on vocals.

Tailor Man has
this David Axelrod effect as the folk-acoustic driving blues in the highway on Do You Follow Me gives The United States
of America a chance to take a break away from the electronic sound. The 16-page
booklet contains liner notes done by Sid Smith including archive interviews by
Byrd about the making of the album including the original lyrics, pictures, and
the 45-RPM single release of the A and B-Side that they released on the CBS
label.

When the album was released, it didn’t do well. There was
also tension between Byrd and the rest of the band members as the band broke
up. Joseph would later do a solo album from support by John McLure’s support as
he recorded and released The American
Metaphysical Circus with and extended group from the West Coast considered
as Byrd called them, The Field Hippies in 1969.

Listening to The United States of America’s sole self-titled
debut released in 1968, it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s not an easy album
to listen to, but very challenging. It was the same thing for me with Captain
Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica and
Magma’s Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh. It’s
one of the albums that grows on you. It’s weird, surreal, and political, but
worth delving into the darker side of what America has become.

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About Me

I'm a blogger/freelance writer from Houston, TX who writes album reviews because I enjoy it. Even though, I'm not the best writer, there is no stop sign for me. I have a love of Progressive Rock music, Jazz Fusion, and Early Heavy Metal music from the '60s to the early '80s. I went to HCC (Houston Community College) for nine years and have completed my degree in Music in Performance: Jazz Studies. I've been writing Progressive Rock and Symphonic Metal reviews starting back in 2008 on my blogsite and it never gets old.